How happy we are: One of our favorite spirited indulgences, Grand Marnier, is deliciously combined into this creamy mustard. We could eat it out of the jar! Photography by Hannah Kaminsky | THE NIBBLE.

City Of Roses Wine Mustard

Artisan Gourmet Mustard

CAPSULE REPORT: It seems almost redundant to say “wine mustard.” From the beginning, mustard was made by grinding mustard seeds with wine or verjus, unfermented wine. Today, beer, vinegar, water or a combination of more than one of the five liquids is added, along with salt and spices and other flavorings (if making a flavored mustard, honey mustard or horseradish mustard, for example—read How Mustard Is Made). Yet, City of Roses goes one step further: While they use apple cider vinegar to grind the mustards, you can taste the quality of the wine and spirits used to flavor them. The second set of differentiators is the eggs and butter, used to create a creamy mustard spread. The mustards are not gluten-free; they contain flour. In the end, what you have is not a spicy mustard with bite, but a sweet, creamy mustard dip and spread that can easily become a mustard sauce. This is Page 1 of a two-page article. Click on the black links below to visit Page 2.

City Of Roses Overview

First, quick question: What’s the City of Roses? It isn’t Rose City, Michigan or Rose City Texas.

But you have a choice among 14 other cities, including Panguipulli, Chile; Shiraz, Iran; and in the United States, Cape Girardeau, Missouri; Chico, California; Little Rock, Arkansas; Lowell, Wyoming; Madison, New Jersey; Pasadena, California; Portland, Oregon; Richmond, Indiana; Thomasville, Georgia; and Tyler, Texas.

The very thought of 14 Cities of Roses makes us want to see a Rose-Off for rights to the title—whatever form that would take. But for the purpose of this review, the nickname goes to Portland Oregon, where City of Roses Mustard is made. Portland has a rose festival the first two weeks in June, its own Grand Floral Parade, many beautiful rose gardens and a beautiful namesake flower, the Portland rose.

There’s a namesake mustard, too. Produced in small batches, with an egg-and-butter base (most mustard is just mustard seed, wine or vinegar and any seasoning), City of Roses Mustard has an extra-creamy, extra-smooth consistency and a rich, wine- or spirits-enhanced flavor.

One of the beautiful rose gardens that has earned Portland, Oregon the name, “City of Roses.” Find more information about the Rose Festival and other Oregon family vacations.

Wine Mustard & Spirits Mustard Varieties

City of Roses Mustard has certainly put some “spirit” into the mustard category. ’The company’s line of wine- and spirits-infused mustards offers something for everyone: white wine, red wine, the most popular distilled spirit and one of the most popular liqueurs. How can one select among:

Mazama Infused Pepper Vodka Creamy Mustard. A gold medal winner at the World Spirits Competition, Mazama Hot Pepper Vodka, made in Bend, Oregon, is named after Mt. Mazama, the volcano that erupted to become Crater Lake.

Enjoy a glass of Pinot Gris wine as you
dip pretzels into City of Roses creamy Pinot Gris mustard.

Pinot Noir Creamy Mustard. Bishop Creek Cellars Pinot Noir Wine is used in this mustard. The manufacturer over-promises when stating that, “You may just feel as if you’re enjoying a wonderful glass of Pinot Noir.” No one would mistake this for anything but mustard—but it’s good mustard.

Tangy Triple Sec Creamy Mustard. Triple sec, an ingredient in the Margarita, is a liqueur made from the peel of oranges. Triple Sec, Grand Marnier and Cointreau are all relatives, clear liqueurs made from the peel of bitter oranges.
Grand Marnier, mentioned above, is generally considered to be the finest quality of the group (although the group is much larger than those mentioned here). Triple sec is a generic name for an orange-flavored liqueur made from the dried peel of oranges; the name means triple distilled. Cointreau is a brand of triple sec, a finer product than products simply labeled “triple sec.”
Curaçao is a generic liqueur made from the dried peels of the laraha citrus fruit, grown on the island of Curaçao in the Netherlands Antilles (southeast of the Virgin Islands in the Caribbean). The laraha developed from the sweet Valencia orange planted by Spanish explorers. The orange would not grow successfully in the climate of Curaçao; the fruits produced were small, bitter and inedible. However, the peel remained aromatic and true to the Valencia varietal, and made a delicious liqueur. The trees were bred into the current laraha species, still inedible. Some brands are colored blue (Blue Curaçao to add more festivity to cocktails, but the color adds no flavor.)

All of the mustards contain some sugar, and have a sweet, honey-mustard quality in addition to some flavoring from the marquee alcohol. Grand Marnier lovers that we are, we leaned toward the orange-flavored Grand Marnier Creamy Mustard. Other tasters naturally chose other flavors. They’re all very good.

And, you can use them in a variety of creative ways. Take a look on Page 2.